


Painted in Blood

by james



Category: Leverage
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-10
Updated: 2010-05-10
Packaged: 2017-10-09 09:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/85869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/james/pseuds/james
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A character study of Eliot Spencer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Painted in Blood

He knows there is something wrong with all of them. None of them are quite right, they all have ghosts. Eliot isn't foolish enough to think he is the only one or that, somehow, his are worse than the others just because his ghosts are tinged in blood.

Eliot has long made a habit of burying his ghosts as soon as he walks away from a job. He doesn't think about who he's left lying on the ground, never wonders which of the bodies will get up and which are going directly into the ground. It isn't his problem, isn't part of his job to pull his punches to preserve the sanctity of life.

If the assholes wanted to stay alive, they'd have picked another line of work in the first place.

He has always told himself that if he kills someone, chances are even they would have gladly killed him instead. It lets him sleep at night without seeing faces and hearing voices accusing him of things he feels no guilt for.

He still doesn't feel guilt. Even now, with their jobs designed to help the hopeless instead of working for whoever is paying, Eliot doesn't find himself faced with growing doubts or encroaching morality. He doesn't really think the others are either, but, as they themselves admit, their previous sins involved material theft and fraud. Not pain and blood and dying.

He's hurt people. He will again. He doesn't see a problem with it. Of course, he's not stupid enough to mention that to the others. They know enough and even Nate, who would blame him the most, also knows the most and has never said a word in judgment to him. Perhaps Nate only has suspicions, but it's still enough that he can guess the extent of Eliot's sins.

After two years of playing the good guy, Eliot still doesn't have doubts, or nightmares and he's not going to swear off violence for good and give all his money to charities. But as he stands in the kitchen, listening to the team regale each other with their best jobs, happily one-upping each other amid grand tales of theft and deception, he finds himself wishing his own best jobs weren't the ones tallied in death.


End file.
